


A Curious Lordling

by Skyeec2



Series: The World of a Crow [1]
Category: Bloodborne (Video Game), Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst, Discrimination, Gen, Pre-Friendship, child issues, stalking crow behaviour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 04:24:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8431753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyeec2/pseuds/Skyeec2
Summary: A young Sephiroth seeks answers into the reason behind his loneliness.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Foreshadowing may or may not have happened here. Also a very difficult one to write but hopefully still enjoyable to read.  
> Edited and titled by @corrupted-spirit over on Tumblr.

Sephiroth was a very lonely child, there were very few children his age in the Orphanage of Upper Cathedral Ward and those that were tended to avoid him. Sephiroth didn’t quite understand why they avoided him, though he had questioned the caretakers of the Orphanage about it numerous times.

They would mutter something about ‘Cainhurst’ before leaving him standing there confused. He didn’t even know what ‘Cainhurst’ was, so that didn’t make any sense to his young mind.

He had eventually come to learn that ‘Cainhurst’ the adults used in conjunction to his name and not any of the others at the Orphanage, so it seemed that it was something that pertained only to him.

So he was intrigued when the adults around him began to whisper about another person when the talked about ‘Cainhurst’. The person they spoke about was some new Crow. He knew that Crows were specially trained individuals who took work from the Church but he knew very little beyond that.

After listening in where he could over the next few weeks he was able to learn that this Crow was around his age and new to the city of Yharnam. They and their mentor had come to Yharnam for the last part of their training.

This didn’t really tell Sephiroth about what ‘Cainhurst’ was or why it caused the other children continued to avoid him, they had gotten so good at it that it was almost like none of them even lived here.

Maybe this new Crow could explain things to him? He decided that he would find them to find out.

He wasn’t allowed out from the Orphanage for very long every day, so that meant he didn’t have much time to actively search for the Crow, between his lessons and training but that didn’t deter him from his search.

Another difficulty in his search was the fact that if they were an apprentice then they wouldn’t be easily identified by the multitudes of feathers that lined their cloaks, perhaps there would be a few but not as many as an older more distinguished Crow would have.

After nearly a month of searching Sephiroth began to finally locate the Crow throughout the days, it started off as simply glimpses of the Crow every now and then until he started to identify the patterns the Crow followed through the days.

Eventually he was able to follow the Crow every day until he was forced to return to the Orphanage in the early evenings, though he had yet to speak to the Crow. Though he was able to observe that the people of Yharnam tended to avoid the Crow as well.

He wondered if that was because of whatever ‘Cainhurst’ was?

A tight grip at his shirt collar startled him as his body is lifted until his feet dangle above the ground. Previous experiences resulted in Sephiroth slumping in the hold of his assailant believing it to be someone from the Orphanage.

Being turned to face the one holding him, showed him that he was wrong on that assumption. In fact, the person keeping a hold of him was the Crow he had been following over the last few weeks.

Even though the majority of the other’s features were hidden by a flat full face mask, Sephiroth believed that the Crow was around his age though perhaps a year older than he was. The Crow was taller than him, enough that there was a fair distance between himself and the ground in order for them to be face to face.

Up close Sephiroth was able to make out the faint outlines of a pattern along the mask but was distracted by the Crow before he could identify what the pattern was. He could also vaguely make out a few stray feathers on their cloak, probably no more than ten all up.

“Why are you following me?” The Crow’s voice was clear, their words spoken slowly so that Sephiroth heard every word. Sephiroth cocked his head slightly when he registered the deeper tone of the other’s voice; was the Crow a male then?

He had assumed from the Crow’s form and stature that they had been female, he shrugged mentality he could deal with being wrong about that.

The Crow had asked him a question so he answered the best he could, “What’s ‘Cainhurst’?” There was an extensive pause and Sephiroth, being to fear that the Crow wouldn’t answer began to expand upon his answer. “The other’s at the Orphanage avoid me and when I ask why, the adults just mumble about ‘Cainhurst’ and leave, then they started talking about a new Crow from ‘Cainhurst’ then…”

The Crow nodded in understanding as Sephiroth trailed off, they heaved a sigh as they placed Sephiroth back onto the ground, only releasing him once they were sure that he had his feet securely under him.

A lithe hand settles in his hair, ruffling the long stands as the Crow bent to look him in the eye. “Come on kid, I’ll talk with you a bit.”

One lengthy conversation later, Sephiroth was sitting next to the Crow, “Cloud, my name’s Cloud,” thinking about everything he had been told. Turning towards Cloud, Sephiroth saw that the Crow was watching the passing townsfolk go about their day.

Sephiroth nodded to himself as he came to a conclusion, “People are stupid.”

Cloud shifted his covered face in Sephiroth’s direction, giving the younger his full attention, “Oh?”

“You said Cainhurst is a faraway castle and that’s why the people here don’t like us.” Sephiroth kept his gaze trained on Cloud as he spoke, “So that means that they don’t like us for something that we can’t control, right?”

Cloud hummed in response to Sephiroth’s statement, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the younger.

Sephiroth continued his thought, ignoring the sound that issued from the Crow, “So they wouldn’t like us no matter what we do,” Sephiroth’s face twisted and sadness coloured his tone, “Then there’s really nothing we can do to change that is there?” 

Cloud remained silent turning his gaze back to the people as they continued on with their lives. Sephiroth was still confused about why the people didn’t like Cainhurst but that could wait until a later date.

Sephiroth flicked his gaze to the sky, seeing that the sun had already begun to set. He would need to return to the Orphanage soon.

He stood up from next to Cloud and turned to the taller, “I’ve got to get back to the Orphanage now, but I’ll see you later right?” He kept his eyes focused upon the Crow as the elder cocked his head slightly.

“Yeah kid, we can talk more if you find me.” With that simple response Sephiroth set off for the Orphanage, content that he had someone to talk to besides the few people that he interacted with in the Orphanage.

 

* * *

 

Cloud watched the child walk off until he could no longer see the silver hair. That was the child the Choir were up in arms about? He didn’t really get it.

The child seemed to be slightly more intelligent than the average but besides that, he didn’t seem that different from the other children. Besides his general appearance resembling the Cainhurst royal line, he was an ordinary child.

Though the same could have been said for him and look how he turned out, Cloud’s eyes focused upon a single individual in the crowd, following the form as they made their way across the square.

Cloud stood silently from his perch, moving to follow the individual at a distance until he was free to engage. His mentor had given him this assignment days ago and now he was prepared to finish it.

Seeing the individual turn down a narrow street, Cloud follow closely, sticking to shadow as he crept closer to them. Coming behind the individual Cloud slid his blade into the back of the person.

They didn’t get a chance to scream as Cloud wrapped his hand around a slender throat, crushing their airway as he twisted the knife he had buried in their back. The dark red gown hid the growing bloodstain caused by the twisting of the blade.

Cloud lowered the woman to the ground, arranging her so that she was slumped against a building wall, it would hopefully cause people to overlook the corpse for a few days or at least until the Church sent someone to retrieve the body.

Once finished Cloud swiftly left the area, thankful of the dark clothing that all Crows wore allowing him to go about either unnoticed or purposefully avoided.

He thought back to what the child had told him, thinking about the severity of how the other children had been avoiding him, perhaps it was not by their own choice. A flash of the body Cloud had just left in the alley flickered through his head.

It really was none of his business what the Choir decided to do, especially not when they were backed by the Church as they were.

But, if circumstances arranged right, then he wouldn’t mind being a friend to the young child. He probably wouldn’t survive much longer but that was no reason to turn the lonely kid anyway.

 _Sephiroth is an interesting child,_ he pondered as he reached his final destination of the night, _he might have been a good man, too._


End file.
